Welcome to this instalment of Rapid Fire, my ongoing series of quick interviews with Black Library authors talking about their new releases. These are short and sweet interviews, with the idea being that each author will answer (more or less) the same questions – by the end of each interview I hope you will have a good idea of what the new book (or audio drama) is about, what inspired it and why you might want to read or listen to it.
In this instalment I spoke to the ever-busy Josh Reynolds for a brief chat about his new Warhammer 40,000 novel Apocalypse, which is the fifth book in the Space Marine Conquests series. You can order this right now in ebook, paperback and audiobook formats – or even as a swanky Limited Edition hardback.
Without further ado, let’s get straight to the questions and Josh’s answers.
Track of Words: What’s the elevator pitch summary for your new novel Apocalypse?
Josh Reynolds: Elements from three Space Marine chapters defend a cardinal world from the depredations of the Word Bearers at the height of the Indomitus Crusade.
ToW: Without spoiling anything, who are the main characters and what do we need to know about them?
JR: There’s quite a few, actually – various flavours of Space Marine, both regular and Primaris; a planetary governor, Sisters of Battle, asteroid miners, gangsters, space pirates; and of course, the Word Bearers.
ToW: Where and when is it set?
JR: At the height of the Indomitus Crusade, in an isolated Ecclesiarchal tithe-system.
ToW: Do you think this would make a good introduction to 40k stories for new fans? Is there anything that you’d recommend checking out before reading this?
JR: Maybe? It’s not as good a starting point as, say, Dark Imperium, but you don’t need to know much more than the basics.
ToW: Why this story? Of all the possible stories you could have written about these characters, what made you go for this one?
JR: All my other ideas were shot down, so I improvised this one on the fly.
ToW: The book’s called Apocalypse – just how big a story can we expect?
JR: About 150,000 words worth.
ToW: What do you find the challenges are in writing large-scale Space Marine-led stories like this?
JR: I often forget that Space Marines don’t have a sense of humour. Trips me up every time.
ToW: Conversely, what are the fun parts of writing this sort of story?
JR: For me, it’s the small-scale character interactions. Just those brief moments where the plot isn’t moving, and two characters are just having a chat about nothing important.
Or the bit where a Space Marine punches a truck. That was fun too.
ToW: This is your first 40k novel set in the new Dark Imperium timeline – did that bring any additional challenges compared to what you’ve written before, or change the influences you drew upon at all?
JR: Not really. Or, at least it was no more challenging than 40K in general.
ToW: What do you hope 40k fans will get out of this by the time they’ve finished it?
JR: I hope they got an entertaining few hours. That’s my goal for any novel.
ToW: What can you tell us about what you’re working on next?
JR: I’m not currently working on anything for Black Library, and the stuff I am working on is under an NDA, so…not much? Sorry.
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As always, thanks so much to Josh for taking the time to chat. If you’re anything like me you’ll be looking forward to getting your hands on this book – I’ll aim to get a review posted just as soon as I can get hold of a copy!
Click here if you fancy taking a look at some other Rapid Fire interviews. If you’ve got any questions, comments or other thoughts please do let me know in the comments below, or on Facebook or Twitter.